5 Tips on How to Learn a New Sport

At some point, one may feel the pull to move from the game audience to the spotlight hence the need to learn a sport. The perks could inform this decision of participating in the sport, or it may just be a keen interest in the sport. Whatever the case, it is not always easy getting started with a new sport.

Learning a new sport is even more when you’re in college. This is because you have to put in the extra hours of sports practice along with your regular academic activities. This means that you must attend your classes and turn in your academic papers on time—expertly-written custom essays have proven to be very helpful in this regard.

1. Start with Clear Goals

To win the race, you have to be in the race, right? Quit procrastination, take the bold step and get started on your quest to master the new skill. A good way to start is by setting clear goals of what you intend to achieve and a tentative time-frame for this. To set reasonable goals, however, you need to have a fair understanding of the sport and an idea of what is required.

Typical goals for a sports newbie could be:

Get a trainer

Join the college team

Master specific movements and techniques, etc.

Participate in a tournament

2. Set Your Mind on it

You’ve heard it said that “you can achieve whatever you set your mind to.” This is often true with learning a new sport as it is with learning other skills. Trade excuses, negative assertions, and limiting thoughts with a positive mindset and the “can do” attitude. It is equally important to resolve within yourself that you will not give up until you achieve your goal.

Furthermore, it is advisable to practice the sport in your mind even when you are not on the training ground. This mental visualization, many believe, makes the athlete more attune with the sport and speed up the learning process.

3. Learn Skill in Chunks

Chunking—the process of taking chunks (individual pieces of information) and grouping them into larger units—is an aspect of learning psychology that is recently gaining a lot of interest. The idea is to break complex techniques into simple, recognizable patterns. As it relates to you as a sports newbie, the movements involved in the sport can be broken down and grouped together to improve your ability to learn the sport when practising.

Coach Wooden of UCLA is presumably the most successful college sports coach in America. In his autobiography, Wooden noted that he used this method to coach his teams to historical successes.

4. Stay on It

Patience is the word. The other is consistency. In as much as you want to master the sport in little or no time, you must understand that it a while to become a pro. As you practice consistently, you will find that over time, your performance will become more seamless and effortless. Build on these gains, and soon you will be performing the star moves you once admired others doing.

5. Get Social About it

Finally, take advantage of social networks to make progress in your new skill. There is no need to go it alone. If you’re a college set up, you can start practicing with the sports team. You can join offline or online sports groups and share your progress on these platforms. This sort of social support system serves as a means of:

Measuring your progress

Rewarding yourself,

Staying motivated and accountable.

Remember you are first a Student

One can easily get carried away by the euphoria of learning a new sport that one develops a lax attitude towards academics. Guard against this. At every point, ensure that your newly-found interest does not interfere with your academic assignments. Several students have found it helpful to use custom essays, dissertations and thesis papers which are written and edited by experts.